What did Kentucky’s big win over Tennessee mean in the rankings?
After a controversial loss at home to a ranked LSU team and a rout of the then-No. 1 squad in the country in Tennessee, Kentucky moved up one spot to No. 4 in the latest Associated Press men’s college basketball top-25 poll released Monday.
UK’s performance against Tennessee, in which it led by as many as 24 in the second half on the way to a dominating 86-69 win in Rupp Arena, marked an almost complete rehabilitation of the Cats’ reputation in the eyes of many basketball observers after suffering a 34-point loss to Duke in the season opener.
UK remains a No. 2 seed in the latest Bracketology forecast by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, but remains in position to move up to a No. 1 with six games left on the regular-season schedule. One of those will be in Knoxville on March 2 where No. 5 Tennessee will no doubt be looking for revenge.
UK next plays at Missouri at 9 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN.
Duke reclaimed the No. 1 spot. The Blue Devils earned 58 of 64 first-place votes in Monday’s poll to earn a third stint at the top this season. Duke replaced Tennessee, which had spent four weeks at No. 1.
Gonzaga moved up a spot to No. 2, followed by Virginia.
Nevada, Michigan, North Carolina, Houston and Michigan State rounded out the top 10.
LSU made the week’s biggest jump, climbing six spots to No. 13 after last week’s win at Kentucky. Kansas State fell five spots to No. 23 for the biggest slide.
No new teams joined the Top 25 for the first time this season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The AP Top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 17, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:
| | Record | Pts | Pvs |
1. Duke (58) | 23-2 | 1,594 | 2 |
2. Gonzaga (6) | 25-2 | 1,502 | 3 |
3. Virginia | 22-2 | 1,476 | 4 |
4. Kentucky | 21-4 | 1,383 | 5 |
5. Tennessee | 23-2 | 1,376 | 1 |
6. Nevada | 24-1 | 1,240 | 7 |
7. Michigan | 23-3 | 1,150 | 6 |
8. North Carolina | 20-5 | 1,129 | 8 |
9. Houston | 25-1 | 1,085 | 9 |
10. Michigan St. | 21-5 | 1,046 | 11 |
11. Marquette | 21-4 | 987 | 10 |
12. Kansas | 20-6 | 801 | 14 |
13. LSU | 21-4 | 773 | 19 |
14. Texas Tech | 21-5 | 733 | 15 |
15. Purdue | 18-7 | 699 | 12 |
16. Florida St. | 20-5 | 525 | 17 |
17. Villanova | 20-6 | 519 | 13 |
18. Louisville | 18-8 | 507 | 16 |
19. Iowa St. | 19-6 | 426 | 23 |
20. Virginia Tech | 20-5 | 408 | 22 |
21. Iowa | 20-5 | 389 | 21 |
22. Wisconsin | 17-8 | 250 | 20 |
23. Kansas St | 19-6 | 249 | 18 |
24. Maryland | 19-7 | 211 | 24 |
25. Buffalo | 22-3 | 164 | 25 |
Others receiving votes: Cincinnati 99, Wofford 32, Auburn 21, Washington 20, St. John’s 2, Mississippi St. 2, Mississippi 1, Yale 1.
